May 11, 2007

European markets mostly higher on session

by Elaine Frei
Most equities markets in Asia and the Pacific were lower on Friday. The main exception was the Sensex, which added 0.18 percent to 13,796.16 in India. The Straits Times index in Singapore dropped 0.07 percent to 3,466.92, while in Hong Kong the Hang Seng Index fell 1.34 percent to 20,468.21. Meanwhile in Australia, the Sydney Ordinaries were down ...

---

Home insurance plans adds savings for no-claims

by Kathyrn Lang
Home insurance can be more than an investment against disaster. With a new policy that has been introduced by Private Insurance Portfolio and Sterling Insurance Group, home insurance can now be an investment in the future. The new policy is geared towards the higher bracket of home owners. To qualify, a home insurance premium must be 3,000₤ or more per year. ...

---

Insurers more likely to reject higher life claims

by Elaine Frei
According to research from threesixty, life insurance claims that are higher have more chance of being rejected by an insurer. In a survey of 12 UK insurance providers, threesixty found that 6.65 percent of life claims were rejected on average, with the rejection rates of individual providers ranging from 0 rejections to a 25 percent rejection rate. ...

---

Estate agent complaints up by one-third

by Elaine Frei
Prices are not the only thing on the rise in the housing market. According to the Ombudsman for Estate Agents, which is an independent service that deals with disputes between member agents and actual or potential home buyers or sellers, it received more than 8,000 complaints from unhappy home buyers in 2006, up by more than a third from 2005. ...

---

May 10, 2007

Most Asian markets decline on session

by Elaine Frei
Equities markets in Asia and the Pacific were mixed on Thursday, with Asian markets mostly lower but Australian markets again closing at record high levels. In Sydney, the S&P/ASX 300 closed at 6,355.5 and the Sydney Ordinaries added 0.22 percent to 6,351.8, helped by news from the retail sector and even though miners declined on the session. In India the Sensex ...

---

Bank of England ups interest rates to 5.5%

by Brian Turner
The Bank of England today announced that interest rates would be raised by 25 basis points, bringing them to a six-year high of 5.5%. This puts increasing pressure on homeowners, who have had to sit through four quarter-point rises in less than a year. While the CBI has called for a halt to further rises in the immediate future, there have been ...

---

New life insurance available to UK military personnel

by Elaine Frei
Members of the armed forces in the UK have had a difficult time securing life insurance. If they have been able to get it at all, the premiums were high and exclusions were many and huge. The companies providing insurance have been hesitant to write policies for service personnel, worried about the cost to them if a ...

---

House price inflation slows in April

by Elaine Frei
In its most recent monthly survey, the Halifax (LSE: HBOS) says that house price inflation was up by only 1.1 percent in April, the smallest increase this year. That took annual house price growth down to 10.9 percent after being at 11.1 percent in March. The average price of a house in the UK now stands at £196,745. ...

---

May 9, 2007

Asian markets see gains

by Elaine Frei
Equities markets in Asia and the Pacific were higher on the day Wednesday, while European and US markets were mixed. In Australia, the Sydney Ordinaries added 0.59 percent to close at 6338, another new record. In India, the Sensex ended the session at 13,781.51, a gain of 0.12 percent. The Straits Times index in Singapore was 0.37 percent higher, to ...

---

Contactless credit payment to be introduced in London

by Elaine Frei
Visa and Mastercard will begin in September to offer a new program which will let UK cardholders pay for purchases of £10 or less by simply holding the cards against a secure reader rather than having to swipe the card and then enter a code or sign a receipt. At first, the new payment method will be available ...

---

Survey: One in ten admit to insurance fraud

by Elaine Frei
A new survey from the Association of British Insurers (ABI) shows that 1 in 10 of 7,000 respondents admit to having committed some degree of insurance fraud. Such false claims, the ABI says, costs insurers £4 million per day and add an average of £40 to each policyholder’s premium. According to the ABI, which represents nearly 400 companies that ...

---

May 8, 2007

Wall Street follows global equities lower

by Elaine Frei
Equities markets were lower globally on Tuesday. In Australia, the Sydney Ordinaries dropped 0.45 percent to 6301. The Sensex fell 0.82 percent to 13,765.46 in India, while in Hong Kong the Hang Seng index was 0.91 percent lower to 10,706.35. Meanwhile, the Straits Times index in Singapore was down 1.43 percent to 3,439.21. The Tokyo markets fell ...

---

Fewer first-time home buyers in March

by Elaine Frei
Higher interest rates and house prices that keep rising have driven some first-time home buyers out of the market, according to new figures released by the Council of Mortgage Lenders. Things are not likely to improve in the near future, as the Bank of England is likely to issue another interest rate hike this week in order to fight an ...

---

Survey: Huge differences in interest offered on current accounts

by Elaine Frei
A new survey by MoneyExpert.com shows that current accounts at most UK banks are not keeping up with interest rates increases as they are being issued by the Bank of England. Since October of 2006, average interest rates paid on current accounts have gone up by 0.29 percent to an average of 1.84 percent. Forty-seven accounts ...

---

May 7, 2007

Hong Kong, South Korean equities markets set new records

by Elaine Frei
Asian equities markets were mixed but mostly higher on Monday. In India, the Sensex dropped 55 points on the session, to 13,879. Elsewhere, the Hang Seng index reached a record 21,070.21 before closing at 20,896.64. In South Korea, the Kopsi index also set a record, closing 1.1 percent higher on the session after having seeing ...

---

Higher interest rates means more remortgages

by Elaine Frei
New data from Moneysupermarket.com indicates that up to seven million homeowners in the UK will be looking for new mortgages if the Bank of England raises interest rates at the meeting of its Monetary Policy Committee this week. The new research by the price comparison website shows that an increase of £100 per month on a mortgage payment would mean ...

---

Survey: Check usage declines

by Elaine Frei
A new survey shows that people in the UK that they don’t write as many checks as they used to. However, the new figures, from Which?, also say that consumers are not ready to give checks up and begin paying by card just yet. Some retailers, on the other hand, have either already quit accepting cards or are looking at doing ...

---

May 4, 2007

European markets gain on session

by Elaine Frei
The Australian equities markets hit new records for the third day in a row on Friday. The S&P/ASX 200 closed out the week and the session at 6,304.9, while the Sydney Ordinaries added 0.95 percent to 6,296.2. The Asian, meanwhile, were mixed on the day. The Sensex dropped 1.02 percent to 13,934.27 in India, but in Singapore the Straits ...

---

Dutch court puts obstacle in way of Barclays/ABN deal

by Elaine Frei
In a move that puts Barclays Bank’s (LSE: BARC; NYSE: BCS; TYO: 8642) agreement to buy ABN Amro (Euronext: AAB; NYSE: ABN) in question, a Dutch court has blocked ABN’s sale of its US unit, La Salle, to Bank of America (NYSE: BAC; TYO: 8648). The sale was part of the agreement between Barclays and ABN. The court’s ...

---